Germany’s new coalition government aims to accelerate the country’s clean hydrogen strategy with a target of 10GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030—doubling the goal set out last year by the previous administration—according to a joint policy statement.

The coalition of the Social Democratic Party, the Free Democratic Party and the Greens says it will prioritise green hydrogen in tandem with a rapid expansion of offshore wind. But it also leaves the door open to the deployment of blue hydrogen during the transition to green.

“The hydrogen strategy will be updated in 2022. The goal is a quick market ramp-up,” the coalition partners say in the statement.

The existing national hydrogen strategy includes a goal of adding another 5GW of capacity “if possible” by 2035 and no later than 2040.

“The goal is a quick market ramp-up” Incoming German coalition

The new government wants to pair electrolysis with offshore wind, the deployment of which it aims to scale up to at least 30GW by 2030, rising to 40GW in 2040 and 70GW in 2045.  Germany currently has just under 8GW of offshore wind capacity, placing it third in the world behind the UK and China.

The offshore wind expansion forms part of a significant acceleration of Germany’s renewables roll-out, with the coalition setting a target for renewables to account for 80pc of the generation mix by 2030, up from about 40pc currently.

In addition to expanding domestic clean hydrogen production, the coalition acknowledges Germany’s need for imports, saying it wants to expand hydrogen import and transmission infrastructure “as quickly as possible”. It supports uniform certification of hydrogen and wants to strengthen hydrogen import relationships.

The coalition does not put a figure on direct funding for the hydrogen sector, which the previous government set at about €8bn ($9bn). But it says it will continue to support schemes such as H2Global, an import subsidy programme set up by the previous government to support the establishment of clean hydrogen projects in exporting countries.

The new coalition acknowledges that natural gas-fired power stations will need to be built to ensure security of supply as coal and nuclear are phased out until renewable capacity is sufficiently expanded.

But any new natural gas plants must be “hydrogen ready” in preparation for conversion to the clean fuel later in the transition, it says.

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Author: Stuart Penson